Biden Proposes Meeting Putin 'In A Third Country'

The White House in a statement said that the US president hold a phone call with his Russian counterpart to offer Putin a face-to-face meeting in a third country to discuss the full range of issues facing the United States and Russia.

A White House spokesman said Biden had emphasized Ukraine's security and territorial integrity in talks with Putin. According to White House spokesman Joe Biden, expressed concern about the strengthening of Russian military positions in Crimea and Ukraine, and advised Moscow to reduce tensions.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the US military presence on the Ukrainian-Russian border, and in response to statements by Western officials about the presence of Russian equipment on the Ukrainian border, Lavrov raised the question that it is unclear what US troops are doing on the Russian-Ukraine border.

The United States has imposed a series of anti-Russian economic and financial sanctions since 2014, accusing Russia of meddling in the conflict in eastern Ukraine and aiding the opposition.

The annexation of the Crimean peninsula to Russia in 2014, based on the results of the referendum and the alleged involvement of Moscow in the 2016 US presidential election, has doubled tensions between the two countries.